SordidPuppy

Thanks very much! Good stuff -- if anyone has any other thoughts, please keep them coming. Cheers to all.

"Fall Creek is the best area to live as a grad/young professional, IMHO. It's near a campus shuttle that runs once every ten minutes during the week, the apartments tend to be nicer and cheaper, it's closer to the few good bars, the houses are charming, and there are nice antique stores and coffee shops in the area. Downtown has a little pedestrian mall, with restaurants and several festivals throughout the year. AVOID Collegetown (undergrad ghetto south of campus), with the possible exception of State Street or below Stewart Ave. North is ok, but the bus service isn't really as helpful as landlords would have you think, although it's improved quite a bit since I've been here. Cayuga Heights would be a nightmare for getting to/from campus in the snow - mostly downhill from campus, no real bus service." ^^ Greetings Just left Ithaca last May after the better part of 8 happy years there. While Fall Creek is definitely populated by a lot of graduate students, I would give lower and upper Collegetown a fair shot, too. Not saying it's better, just saying you should check it out. It really depends on what stage you're at in your life, and what sort of atmosphere you want to be in. The Commmons, the pedestrian mall the poster above referred to, is a nice place to walk around in theory -- and, often enough, in practice -- but there is a large vagrant contingent that you're likely to see dominating the place a lot of the time. Downtown Ithaca generally is nice enough, but be aware that a sort of seedy, hippies-gone-bad contingent definitely DOES exist and you may feel safer in or right around Collegetown than downtown, if you wind up living in Fall Creek and walking to the Commons a great deal. I don't say this to unfairly represent Ithaca or scare you -- it's definitely a safe place overall, but, like anywhere else, it does have its rough spots. Just be aware of this and scope out not just the block you're looking to live on but also the area around it, especially if you don't have a car or just like to walk a lot. When I say upper collegetown, I'm talking up Dryden Ave., "above" College Ave. and Linden Ave. There are some nice, quiet places up there and you can make an argument, depending on where you're going on campus, that this is actually the most convenient place to live around, because there's an entrance to campus near the baseball field (also up in that direction) that many people seem to forget about. You're right to presume that north campus could be a very bad move. It's very isolated, and depending on where you live, you might be looking at a 45 minute walk if you want to head to Collegetown for a cup of coffee or to meet friends. I would definitely avoid this (I agree with red_crayons re: Cayuga Heights; don't even think about it unless you have children and want a solidly home-based lifestyle). Red_crayons is also spot-on in saying that housing is a bit pricey, but I would say that decent housing is there for the taking as long as you do your homework. Yes, there are shabby places, and yes, most of the houses and apartments are going to have a bit of the look of a place that's been rented out to college students for years and years, but most places aren't too shocking and, well, you get what you pay for, ultimately. During the 2008-2009 school year, I lived in a spacious two-bedroom apartment, about a fifteen-minute walk from campus (lower Collegetown, below Stewart Ave.; Sage Place, to be exact) for about $625/month ($1250/month between the two of us), all things considered. For a decent two-bedroom place, this is on the cheaper end of things, unless you get a place outside of town or something like that. Anyway, I could go on and on; I started at Cornell at age 17, took a few years off, some of which I spent in Ithaca, and graduated last May at age 24. I was around the town for a long time and was living a sort of borderline-grad student lifestyle by the time I left. By this I mean that I lived with a Ph.D. student and had tons of grad student friends -- not to mention friends who were native Ithacans -- but, obviously, also had a lot of connections with undergrads. This may seem hokey, but in my opinion, the best thing one can do to make living in Ithaca enjoyable is to, well, meet people. You'll want friends to go to the gorges with, friends to go out with, friends to watch a movie with when there's a blizzard outside. I could go on and on. Ithaca is a beautiful town, and Cornell is an amazing school. I will always miss it, and I will never lose touch with the faculty and friends I met there. There are plenty of places to eat, plenty of nice bars, plenty of nice coffee shops...it really is a high-functioning college town. If anyone has any questions, please contact me! All the best

Hey people Wanted to revitalize this post, as I've got a couple of questions about Davis. I've been accepted to UC-Davis and the university has offered me a sort of middling stipend, certainly not small, but not huge either: $16,300/school year. Because it's a 5-year program, I anticipate that it will be pretty intense, and so I'm a little leery of even entertaining the prospect of full-time summer employment to earn extra dough, let alone working a part-time job during the school year. How do people that live in Davis feel about this stipend as an amount of money to subsist on? If I attended UC-Davis, I would aim to live within walking distance of campus AND walking distance of a decent number of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. I understand that Davis has earned a reputation as really bike-friendly, so I'm sure I'd take advantage of that if I lived there, but I can't say I would want to bike every day of my life, so having walking as an option would be nice. Are there legitimate -- and plentiful -- options in the $500-$700 range? On that note, a professor at Davis told me, if not in so many words, that a car is a near must-have. I don't have a car, and, after nine near-penniless months spent trying to find work since graduating last May, I am apprehensive about the prospect of getting (not to mention maintaining) one, as necessary funds will be coming out of the stipend. What do you think about this? I'm happy to use public transportation to get places and, besides, I am not the sort of person that will go stark raving mad if Friday night means local bars and not the big city. The only expense I expect to have is travel -- to see family and the gf -- and this is definitely a priority. I am sure that someone out there has found them in a situation like this one in the past. I'd really appreciate any insight you might have. Thanks, and all the best.

Hey all! To piggyback off that last post, I've been offered what sounds like near-identical funding to historycubicle and am a little nervous that $13,000 isn't going to cut it. What are apartment costs like? I'm specifically interested in areas that tend to cater to graduate students, are within walking distance of campus (I'm not sure how sprawling campus is; I'm talking about the English department specifically, if that helps), and are, also, within walking distance of shops, bars, restaurants, etc. On that note, just how "walkable" a city is Austin? While I'm open to the idea of getting a car between now and the fall (though that $13,000 stipend doesn't exactly bode well for this project), it's important to me to feel that I could walk to and from classes, shops, bars, restaurants, etc. if I wanted/needed to. Thanks so much! I've heard nothing but great things about Austin and I want very badly to believe that I can make this work; I'm visiting in about a month but would love to get some preliminary feedback now. All the best

Greetings all. I am considering Vanderbilt for an English Ph.D., and they're offering me a fairly generous stipend ($24,000). I do not have a car and am not sure whether I am interested in getting one between now and the Fall. I am open to the idea of doing so but am also wary of living somewhere that earns a reputation of a place where one "has to have a car," as I like walking to and from class, bars, etc. In fact, I sort of depend upon it for my sanity. So what's the real story? Can anyone shed some light on navigating Vanderbilt (and Nashville, for that matter) without a car? Are there any grocer stores, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, shopping areas, etc. within walking distance of campus or of residential areas close to campus? On a related note, one of the posters above mentions that living close to campus will result in paying a premium. Elsewhere, posters report that Vanderbilt is pretty inexpensive overall. What is "premium" by Nashville standards? I grew up in Omaha, NE, which, according to Wikipedia, is about 2/3 the size of Nashville. Omaha is a real driver's city -- there are perhaps no areas of town where one could happily subsist without a car. I am guardedly optimistic that Nashville, as a bigger, older, and (I'm hoping) more interesting place, would have more of these sorts of areas. Thanks!!